Show all records
Click image for high resolution zoom or multiple image views.

    Title

  • Two German coins brought to America by Ernest Weinman and Arthur Abt

  • Physical Description

    2 coins : silver, gold ; varies, varies

  • Date

    1873-1876

  • Summary

    2024.68a: 10 Mark Ludwig II Koenig v. Bavaria coin. The coin is gold and shows a profile of King Ludwig II on the recto and the crowned imperial eagle on the verso. The coin is dated 1873. The coin is one of a handful of gold coins which Ernest Weinman had brought when he, his wife Franziska, and stepson Herbert had emigrated to America in 1935.

    2024.68b: 20 pfennig coin. The coin is silver and shows the number 20 on the recto and the crowned imperial eagle on the observe. The coin is dated 1875. This 20 pfennig piece was given to Arthur Abt by his maternal aunt, Lina (Stern) Schild, just prior to his immigration to America in 1938. Arthur was touched by the gift because his aunt's family was poor. Lina and Sigfried Schild subsequently immigrated to America.

  • Medium

    Numismatics; Coins

  • Part Of

    Arthur Abt and Lottie Seligmann Weinman Abt collection,, AR 25982

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Ernest Weinman (1890-1973) served in World War I. He married Franziska Seligmann (née Heine) in 1930 and became the stepfather to Franziska's two children, Lottie and Herbert. Anticipating the danger that Nazis posed for Jews, Ernest brought Lottie to Chicago in 1934 to look for opportunities there. He left his stepdaughter with relatives, returned to Germany to close the family business, and brought Lottie's mother and younger brother to Chicago one year later.

Arthur Abt (1920-2017) was born on February 11, 1920, in Giessen, Germany to Hedwig née Stern and Jakob Abt, and grew up there with his stepbrother Hans and sister Irmgard before immigrating to the United States in 1938 to escape the Nazis. His father Jakob was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and his mother Hedwig was murdered in the Auschwitz Birkenau extermination camp. Arthur apprenticed as a baker in Germany and resumed that work in Chicago before joining the 32nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army and fighting in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Arthur became a naturalized citizen shortly after his honorable discharge in 1945. The following year, he married Lottie Seligman Weinman in Chicago while attending the American Institute of Baking and working in hotel bakeries. They moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1949 where he baked for two more years before becoming a traveling salesman, selling women’s jewelry to retailers throughout Kansas and parts of Nebraska, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Arthur and his wife had two children, Jeffrey and Helen Abt. Arthur Abt died in Overland Park, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri) on November 3, 2017, at age 97.

Reproductions and Permissions

We welcome fair use of this content. Please credit the Leo Baeck Institute in your citation. For usage policies and to request higher resolution images, see Reproductions and Permissions.

Citation

Two German coins brought to America by Ernest Weinman and Arthur Abt, Leo Baeck Institute, 2024.68a-b.